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The Messenger Islands
The Messenger Islands The Messenger Islands (Elvish: Thimae) are a small island chain located in the mid-western Kaelter Ocean, about 440 miles off the coast of Tyssir, the capital of the Courish Empire on the continent of Eska. The Messenger Islands have been ruled by the House of Mahemat since 616 AA, which became a vassal kingdom of the Courish Empire by terms of the Treaty of Shildence in 940. The chain consists of five islands: Pava, Jekeru, Mahematera, Ath Va Eli, and Sy Thimae. The largest island, Pava, contains the Triplets. The Triplets The Triplets (Elvish: Khovae) are three crucial port cities constructed around 500 KA during the reign of the Ancient Tanar Kingdoms. The largest and oldest of the Triplets is Shildence, the Island's capital and governing center. The second largest Triplet is Geah, the location of the Bruderfil Bay Company headquarters and an industrial powerhouse contributing to over 55% of the Island's EGO. The smallest Triplet, Marora, is best-known for being the holy city of Aripluritism, where Yela transcended into the earth in the now-ruined Temple of Fathoms. Marora is also home to the Opatur Library, an ancient structure dedicated to the Tanar playwright and orator Opaturus of Jekeru. Etymology and History Ancient History (Pre-Exile) Before the unification of the Messenger Islands under Mahemat Queen Daina in 616 AA, the islands were never referred to as a collective by their Domoran Human natives. The oldest known reference to the islands as a whole is in a mid-400s Fhaornian royal edict, the Faernos Lharast, in which they are called "Timana" (likely the origin of the present-day Elvish term for the islands, "Thimae", meaning "wing"). The current name for the islands originates with the arrival of Elven ambassadors into Shildence from the Darkwood Ilantate in the early 100s AA. Ambassadors stayed for several days and often convened in the city center before setting off toward the continent of Shaakaar, hoping to earn favor from the goblin kings in the western continent. Human enemies of the Ilantate, most notably the Luthite Wakaby tribal nations in Eska, began to employ the term "Messenger Islands" as a mocking description of Elven sycophancy towards monstrous races. This term melded into Common speech by 400 AA. Around that time, the Elven Fhaornian Kingdom began exiling thousands of Luthite Humans from the Wakaby-Dance nations following the Theft Of Kyra'Kiir from Eska to the Islands. The Mahemat Kingdom The Fhaornian Kingdom fell 200 years later with the assassination of King Laranlas in 612 AA. The now-independent Humans gave rise to the Mahemat Kingdom, where the Common term "Messenger Islands" had become official. For centuries, the Messenger Islands under the Mahemat Kingdom remained a primarily tribal-religious society living among the ruins of the ancient Tanar Kingdoms. During this time, Aripluritism began expanding from its small cult-like population across the islands and into Eska. Peoples and races from the both continents of Eska and Shaakaar also began cycling regularly through the Triplet ports. Courish Empire The Manreign of Couran, the first republic on the continent of Eska, began expanding territory into northeastern Eska and its coast in 930 AA. Having already founded the Geah-based Bruderfil Bay Company in joint-operation with the legislatures of Mahemat and Couran, it is thought the republic sought unrestricted access to Geah after having received notification of rising port-usage taxes from the Mahemat Kingdom. By 940, the Courish Empire had begun its swift invasion of the Messenger Islands. On the 20th day of Deadsper, 940, the Treaty of Shildence was signed, which assigned the Mahemat Kingdom to Couran as a vassal state. Geography and Climate The Messenger Islands are isolated between the continents of Eska and Shaakaar, lying around 440 miles off the east coast of the former, in the Middle Kaelter Ocean. The Islands possess a tropical climate, consisting mostly of rainforests and rocky oceanic coastlines. The largest of the five islands, Pava, is home to Zormouth, a gigantic mountain known to have vomited fire in ancient pre-Mahemat times. Mountains as such can be found throughout the Messenger Islands, smaller and more isolated from civilization. Another notable feature in the Messenger Islands are the Shaman's Heads, a series of rocky cliffs surrounding the island of Mahematera. The islands of Ath Va Eli and Sy Thimae are largely uninhabited as they are covered in dense rainforest, although it is rumored that Tabaxi cultists have settled in northern Sy Thimae. Demographics People Due to the exile of Luthite Wakaby-Dance nations to the Island in the 400s AA, the native Domoran Humans have intermixed. Luthite Humans now dominate the Messenger Islands, followed close behind by the slightly taller and lighter-skinned Domorans. Half-Elves, descendants of the original "messenger" ambassadors, populate about 4% of the islands, concentrated mostly in the South Kelytha district of Shildence. Smallfolk -- including Dwarves, Gnomes, and Halflings originating from western Eska -- are modestly scattered across the islands with a considerable concentration in Jekera. A small full-Elf population is almost entirely isolated to the Anilessa district of Geah, some having moved to the sparsely-populated outer islands of Ath Va Eli and Sy Thimae. Linguistics Wakaby Common is the most widely-spoken language in the Messenger Islands. As an isolated dialect of Common, it has several notable differences with the Common spoken by the Humans in Eska, including more rounded vowels and hard rhotic consonants. Orcish is studied and fluently-spoken by Uluuhin Gatherers, often living close together outside Triplet city limits. Elvish and Halfling can be heard in certain districts of the Triplet cities, but they are not official languages. Religion The major religion in the Messenger Islands is Aripluritism, a shrine-worshipping, animistic belief system centered around the figure Yela, a Domoran woman who taught in Marora and is said to have taken the form of a monkey and transcended into the earth about 15 years into the reign of Mahemat King Seonar II. In addition, recently-growing community of Uluuhin Gatherers, a monotheistic sect of Shaakaarian Ariadism originating in the Islands from the Orc missionary Garathmuk, makes up about 24% of the population. A sizable Technopurist society also exists in the neighborhood surrounding the Soot House of Geah. And on the island of Sy Thimae, a small undisturbed cult of Tabaxi shamans dwell. Government The Messenger Islands are an absolute monarchy, ruled by Seonar IV of the House of Mahemat since 938. The House of Mahemat owes its allegiance to the Courish Empire, which invaded and established the Islands as a vassal state according to the Treaty of Shildence in 940. The current Ambassador to Couran and Royal Advisor is the druid Peterus Nertharo. Seonar IV and His Royal Family reside in the Wanderer's Palace in Shildence, with additional royal Houses in Geah as well as Wulling, Jekera.